The Senate recently voted to block changes that would strip millions of workers of eligibility for overtime pay, despite the threat of a presidential veto. The Bush administration, on March 31, proposed changes to federal overtime standards that would make it easier for employers to deny overtime compensation to certain workers while guaranteeing time-and-a-half pay for those earning less than $22,100.

EPA recently denied a petition from environmental organizations imploring the agency to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. The petitioners -- Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and the International Center for Technology Assessment -- argued that EPA is obligated by the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases emitted from mobile sources. The agency countered that it does not have such authority and stated its belief that “setting GHG [greenhouse gas] emission standards for motor vehicles is not appropriate at this time.”

EPA recently lifted a 25-year ban on the sale of land contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, according to USA Today. The newspaper obtained an Aug. 14 internal memo in which an agency official called the ban “an unnecessary barrier to redevelopment.” Previously, polluted properties could not be sold until PCBs were cleaned up. The policy change will make it more difficult to track the sale of contaminated sites, of which there are more than 1,000 nationwide, according to EPA officials.

The Bush administration recently approved a major rollback of the nation’s clean air standards that will allow increased pollution from the oldest and dirtiest power plants. Under the rule changes, these plants can upgrade their facilities without having to install the latest anti-pollution controls (as they were previously required to do under EPA's New Source Review program) even if it results in new emissions. Anti-pollution controls must be added only if upgrades exceed 20 percent of the value of all equipment used to produce electricity, an extremely high threshold.